We are baby boomers privileged to enjoy our dream of early retirement while traveling full-time. We recently traded our 2005 37' Allegro Bay for a 2015 DRV Tradition fifth wheel being towed by a 2015 Silverado 3500HD Duramax dually. We are in our ninth year of being on the road. We invite you to join us as we explore this amazing country. and navigate the full-time RV lifestyle. Our heartfelt thanks to our soldiers and their families for their sacrifices to ensure our freedom so that we can pursue our dream.

June 15, 2009

San Jose, CA: Winchester Mystery House

We had a short drive to our next stop in Pleasanton, CA, and we pulled into the Alameda County Fairgrounds a little after noon. Alameda County Fairgrounds Campground has full hookups including free Wi-Fi. The photo below shows our site at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

Roads are paved and sites are a mixture of gravel and dirt. Actually, the material on the sites looked more like ground up, reclaimed asphalt paving material, so it really was pretty dirty. Sites are narrow as with most fairgrounds, but the campground was less than half filled when we were there, and most sites had an empty space between.

Pleasanton is a little over half an hour from San Jose, and the Winchester Mystery House in San Jose turned up in our research of things to see in the area. Sarah Winchester began construction of the house in 1884 upon the death of her husband William Wirt Winchester. Sarah Winchester was the wealthy heiress of the Winchester Repeating Arms fortune. Carpenters and craftsmen worked on the house continuously (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) for 38 years until the widow's death. The house has so many strange design features, it became known as the Mystery House.

The house is Queen Anne Victorian mansion with approximately 160 rooms. The photo below shows the front of the house.

Indoor toilets, push-button gas lights, forced-air heating, three elevators (two hydraulic and one electric), and an indoor shower with heated water are some of the conveniences in the house that were rare for the time. The cost of the 38-year building project is estimated at $5.5 million. This is the equivalent of about $70 million today. The reason Mrs. Winchester was able to afford to build such an extravagant house with all those modern conveniences was she inherited about $20 million cash plus a 50% interest in the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. when her husband died. This provided her with an income of approximately $1,000 per day (equivalent to about $21,000 a day today).

At Winchester House, you can take a guided house tour that also includes a self-guided tour of the gardens and out buildings. You can also take a behind-the-scenes tour that takes you into some of the rooms and out buildings that are not accessible on the regular tour. The basement is also included with the behind-the-scenes tour. We opted for the combo tour that included everything.

Mrs. Winchester became so distraught after the death of her husband that she consulted with a medium. The psychic is rumored to have told Mrs. Winchester the family was cursed because of all the people killed by her husband's rifles, and that Mrs. Winchester should build a house for herself and all the spirits who had died. The psychic also told her she should never stop building.

When we started the tour, we quickly realized there was no master plan for the house. Rooms seem to have been added on a whim. Later room additions block windows and doors from rooms that were built previously. The photo below shows a stairway to nowhere. You can see the joists of the floor above running across the top of the stairway.

And the next photo is a door to nowhere. It exits the house about 12 feet above the ground.

The house rambles on so much some servants had to have maps so they wouldn't get lost. In the next photo taken from an upper-story balcony, you can see many of the roofs, angles, and skylights at various levels and running in all directions.

Some say Mrs. Winchester built the house with so many rooms and passages and with doors and windows that went nowhere to confuse the angry spirits from the people who died because of her husband's guns. The more likely explanation is she closely controlled all the design and construction, but she didn't really know much about the mechanics of it. If something didn't work out, she simply had the workmen build around it rather than ripping it out and correcting the problem. Unlike William Randolph Hearst, Sarah Winchester did not have an architect to make plans and drawings and to do the engineering. There were never any plans or drawings for Winchester House, only sketches sometimes done on tablecloths.

The house started out as eight-room farm house that was under construction. Mrs. Winchester bought the property. The house and the barn of that original farm house were quickly and completely absorbed into her mansion.

Winchester House was taller at one time, but an earthquake in 1906 brought down the seven-story tower. The house has only four stories today. Several rooms in the front of the house were damaged when the tower fell, so Mrs. Winchester had the workmen close off all the damaged rooms rather than repair them.

The house has approximately 160 rooms, but the exact number is uncertain. The floor plan is so confusing, every time a count is taken, the number comes up different. There are 47 fireplaces, approximately 40 bedrooms, 5 or 6 kitchens, and two ballrooms (one was never completed). The house is 24,000 square feet and takes over 20,000 gallons of paint to paint the outside of the entire structure.

Today, there isn't much furniture in the house and none of it is original. When Mrs. Winchester died in 1922, she left the furniture to her niece, who lived in the house with her as a companion and assistant. The Winchesters only had one child - a daughter who died in 1866 when she was only a few weeks old. The niece kept what furniture she wanted and sold the rest. They hauled away eight truck-loads of furniture and personal belongings a day for six and a half weeks before the house was empty.

One of the features Mrs. Winchester included in her house were plenty of Tiffany stained-glass windows. There is a storage room in what used to be the barn of the original farm house where numerous stained glass windows and doors are on display.

Mrs. Winchester's bedroom is shown in the next photo. She died in this room in 1922 at the age of 83.

The next photo shows the conservatory. The floor under the wood decking is galvanized to resist rust. Flower pots would be placed on the floor to be watered from a hose. The water would run across the floor, which had a slight slope, and run out into the garden to water some of the plants there.

Even though Sarah Winchester never had any guests, the house had two ballrooms, and the photo below shows the one that is finished. It has doweled paneling, a carved ceiling, and a chandelier imported from Germany. The chandelier has 13 candles on it. Thirteen was Mrs. Winchester's favorite number and it is used frequently throughout the house.

The tour of the house takes over an hour and covers about a mile of rooms, hallways, passages, and stairs. Following the house tour, we went on the behind-the-scenes tour. The tour took us into several of the out buildings and to a few rooms of the house that we didn't see on the regular house tour. Then the tour went to one of the two basements. The basement is low and we had to wear hard hats.

The next photo shows the coal-fired boiler that was used to heat the house.

After the behind-the-scenes tour, we spent a little time strolling around the garden. Although there were many beautiful flowers, we particularly liked the lace cap hydrangeas.

We have more to see in the area, but it was getting a little late, so we headed back to the motor home. Look for our next post to see what else we were up to.

August 18, 2008

Durango Part I: Durango & Silverton Railroad

Our last drive from Moab, UT to Cortez, CO was a short trip of only 2 1/2 hours, but the drive from Cortez to our next stop in Durango, CO was even shorter at just a little over an hour. We took our time getting underway, and we still arrived at Alpen Rose RV Park around noon.

Alpen Rose is located north of historic downtown Durango in a beautiful, wide valley lined with red cliffs. The campground is very well maintained and very well managed. It has wide, gravel roads; gravel pads; free Wi-Fi; cable TV; and full hookups. There is a section that is well-shaded, and the section where we were located for better satellite reception that has only a few smaller trees. The photo below is a view of our site at Alpen Rose.

The only drawback to Alpen Rose is they have side-by-side hookups. Side-by-side hookups make for close quarters on the driver's side of the RV; but if they are done right, they can make the living space on the door side of your RV more spacious. The space on the living side at Alpen Rose is pretty decent; however, you end up face to face with one of your neighbors, which means you have to share your living space. That's something Molly isn't too fond of. She figures anything she can see is her turf; and if someone (especially another dog) steps out their door right across from her door, she barks to let them know of her disapproval. But our first neighbors, who had a dog, were only there one night after we arrived; and the neighbors who replaced them were very friendly and even Molly seemed to accept them right away.

The primary reason for stopping in Durango was to ride the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad. Narrow gauge means the rails are 42 inches or less apart while standard gauge rails are 56 1/2 inches apart. Standard gauge is based on the width of the track of Roman chariot wheels. Whatever Roman chariots have to do with railroads, we don't know. :) But that's supposedly where they came up with the dimension for the spacing between the rails. Durango & Silverton uses a gauge of 36 inches. The narrower spacing between the rails means the tracks can be built with tighter curves, which is substantially less expensive for mountainous terrain.

We enjoyed our trips last year on the Grand Canyon Railway and on the Manitou & Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We like the atmosphere of the old trains and the sounds of the old steam locomotives make, especially the character of a real steam whistle that can't be matched by a diesel horn. We have heard and read a lot about Durango & Silverton Railroad, and so we had been looking forward to experiencing it.

The town of Durango was founded by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway in 1880. The railway constructed a line to Silverton in 1881 to haul gold and silver ore. In fact, the railroad has carried over $300 million in precious metals. Today, Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad carries approximately 200,000 passengers annually in vintage cars behind vintage steam locomotives. The railway has been in continuous operation for over 125 years.

In the summer, Durango & Silverton RR runs three trains daily from Durango to Silverton and back. The route takes you through scenic canyons along the Animas River and through wilderness areas in the San Juan Mountains.

Although we enjoyed the trip, we thought the ride was a little long at 3 1/2 hours each way. The route is only about 50 miles, but the train travels slowly and makes several stops along the way.

One thing that we could have done to reduce the travel time would have been to take the train one way and the bus the other. This would have reduced the travel time by at least an hour and a half, and it would have probably meant more comfortable seats on the bus. However, the train fare is already pretty expensive at $75 for adults, and taking the bus one way would have added between $12 and $17 each depending on whether you were taking the train up or back. Besides, the idea was to ride the train. We just didn't realize the trip would feel THAT long.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's start the train ride from the beginning. We had to go into town to pick up our tickets the day before our scheduled trip. That also gave us the opportunity to get the "lay of the land" to find out where we were to board and where parking was located. While picking up the tickets, we noticed this sculpture in front of the station. The horses seem to all be looking right into the camera.

The building on the left is the train depot which looks about the same as when it was constructed in 1882. There is a hotel next door with beautiful flowers and patio dining.

We had tickets for the first train which departs at 8:15 AM. The railroad asks passengers to arrive a half an hour before the scheduled departure time. We arrived a little before that, so we had time to stop at Micky D's for breakfast. After breakfast, we walked next door to the station just in time to see the locomotive being backed in to hitch up to the rest of the train.

The train departed at 8:15 on the dot. The photo below shows the train a short distance outside town heading to Silverton.

As we got a little higher in the mountains, we caught some beautiful views of the Animas River like the one in the photo below. The tracks follow the river fairly closely all the way to Silverton.

As we mentioned, the train makes several stops along the route. One of the stops was at Soaring Tree Top Adventures. As the train approached the stop, one of the Soaring guides took off down a zip line while hanging upside down.

Soaring Tree Top Adventures features over one mile of zip lines strung among 32 platforms high in the tree tops. The only way to get to Soaring is by the Durango & Silverton Railroad. The adventure is a little expensive at $339 per person; but it includes round-trip train fare, 5 hours of zip line soaring with instruction and guides for the day, use of all necessary equipment, and a four-course gourmet lunch in the tree tops.

Another stop the train made was to take on water. The D&SNGRR uses 10,000 gallons of water per round-trip and 12,000 pounds of coal. The coal is shoveled into the firebox one shovelful at a time.

As we approached Silverton, at the base of a hillside there was an old mining structure that reveals Silverton's history of gold and silver mining.

The Silverton mining district was officially opened to miners in 1874 following the signing of a treaty with the Ute Indians. Two thousand men moved into the area that year. However, by 1875, there were only about 100 people living in the town of Silverton itself. The peak mining period was from 1900 to 1912. The population of the county in which Silverton is located peaked at about 5,000. The area boasted four railroads, three smelters, over thirty mills, and innumerable mines throughout the surrounding mountains.

Silverton is a Victorian town that sits in a valley in the San Juan Mountains at an altitude of over 9,000 feet. As you can see from the photo below, Silverton is fairly compact; and only one of the roads running through town is paved. It's the largest town we've ever been in that had not one traffic signal!

The train pulled into Silverton a little before noon. After we got off, we waited around a few minutes for the crowd to clear and got a good photo of the train.

And a fellow passenger took a shot of us in front of the locomotive.

There would be a little over a two-hour layover in Silverton allowing time to look around some of the shops and to grab a bite to eat. The train drops the passengers off on Blair Street which is where most of the restaurants are located. Blair Street was also the location of most of the saloons and brothels back in the old mining hay days. Even today, Blair Street is unpaved and retains that "rough and tough" feel.

The building in the photo below was built in 1888 and was the last operating brothel in Silverton. It closed in 1947. It is now the Shady Lady Restaurant and boasts root beer floats, home cookin', and family dining.

One block over on Greene Street, which is the only paved street in town, and on some of the connecting side streets, are numerous quaint shops selling Indian jewelry, gifts, art, T-shirts, and train memorabilia.

We walked most of Blair Street and up and down both sides of Greene Street. The photo below shows the courthouse on the far end of Greene Street.

The mountains around Silverton are pretty rugged, and we saw a lot of Jeeps and ATVs in town. The most interesting means of transportation we saw was this WWII half-track parked outside the Miners Tavern on Greene Street. It turns out the tavern was also the American Legion.

On the way back to the train, we stopped for some ice cream. It was quite warm In spite of the clouds, the threatening rain, and the altitude. Shortly after we got back to the train, the whistle blew, and we were underway.

The photo below shows an afternoon train leaving Silverton and heading down the valley toward Durango.

We were assigned seats on the left side of the train for both legs of the trip. Since the train is turned around after it gets to Silverton, we now got to see the view on the other side of the tracks. A little way from Silverton was this mountain view.

The views on the return trip were beautiful, even though we only caught a few glimpses of the sun on the way back. Here is another mountain scene.

The tracks cross the Animas River several times, so the river can be seen from either side of the train depending on where you are on the route.

There were quite a few rafters on the river.

The peak flow of the Animas River is in June and is 4 to 5 times what it was when we were there in August. The river a little to the south of Silverton at its peak flow is almost a continuous series of Class IV and V rapids and is home to kayak races during Animas River Days in late June. What is a fun ride for novices in August is best left only to the experts in June.

A little farther along, the river drops into a deep canyon and the tracks run right along the ledge of the cliff.

From the shot below, you can see how close the train is to the edge.

In our opinion, the better views are on the east side of the train (right side going up, left side returning). From our experience and from the experience of another RV couple who are work-camping in the area and whose blog we follow, clouds and thunderstorms frequently develop on summer afternoons in this part of Colorado, especially in the mountains. Even though the train gets turned around for the return trip and you get to see the views to both the east and to the west, we recommend trying to get seats on the right side going up because it is more likely to be cloudy or raining on the return trip.

We rode in a vintage coach, but there is also seating available in first-class parlor cars, in observation cars, and in open-sided cars. The open-sided cars provide a less obstructed view; however, keep in mind the possibility of rain (and, depending on the time of year, possible cool temperatures) when selecting the type of car you want.

A great service offered by Alpen Rose RV Park was dog walking if you were going to be away from the RV for an extended time. We were grateful to have this available. We're trying to keep Molly's bladder infections at bay by letting her out every 4 hours. We were concerned about leaving her for 10 hours. The lady who does the dog walking stopped by the night before to meet Molly and pick up the keys to the motor home. We ended up with a perfect solution. Carol was not intimidated by Molly's barking when she came to the door and quickly won Molly's trust. For $10, Carol came twice to let Molly out, giving us peace of mind on our all-day excursion. We also were gratified to hear that Molly was a model client. :)

Durango is a mecca for outdoor enthusiasts; but even though we aren't into rock climbing, white water rafting, mountain biking, or fishing, there is still more to see and do in the area. We're off to do some exploring. Check back soon, and we'll let you know what we found.

August 05, 2007

With a minor interruption to review our first year full-timing, we pick up our travels back in Moab, Utah. Utah deserves more than a pass-through, so we will be returning in the future to enjoy this rugged, beautiful state. For now, though, it was time to head east. We planned to be in Pittsburgh the beginning of August for doctor appointments and to help with some projects around Lora and J. Michael's new house. Paul can hardly wait to get his hands on his tablesaw again! We've already been to Home Depot and Lowe's in various ports of call for him to reconnoiter what he'll need for some of the projects on the kids' list.

From Moab, we drove north to I-70, then started east. We stopped for the night at Rifle Gap State Park in Rifle, CO just at the western edge of the Rockies. Rifle Gap State Park has a newly renovated campground complete with large, level concrete pads and gravel patios. Many sites have beautiful views of the small lake, which is a reservoir for the town of Rifle.

The next morning, we started out across the Rockies on I-70. The Rockies were a struggle for our fully-loaded motor home with the Saturn Vue in tow. There were several grades where we were only able to do 20-25 mph. We were, however, able to actually pass two 18-wheelers hauling construction equipment on the slow climb up! From the interstate we could see the major ski resorts - Aspen, Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, plus some lesser-known resorts. There were many views like the one below that reminded us of Switzerland.

After finally making it over the last peak, we descended toward Denver, turned south, and rolled into Colorado Springs, CO where our home for the next week would be Garden of the Gods Campground. We chose Garden of the Gods Campground because of its convenient location even though that would mean we would be closer to the city than we usually like to stay. The campground is about 5 minutes from Garden of the Gods. Manitou Springs is about 6 minutes down the road to the right of the campground and historic Colorado City, which is now a quaint shopping district, is a short distance in the opposite direction. Although the campground has many mature trees, the management was very accommodating in giving us one of the few sites that has a clear view of the southern sky for our satellite dish. Unfortunately, our door faced the main road in the campground near the activity center, which resulted in a little more noise than we like from vehicular traffic, people walking to and from the activity center and the pool, kids on bikes yelling to their friends, and from the activity center itself. This is why we usually don't go to campgrounds with a lot of planned activities; but if you are one of the many who likes the campground to provide things to do, this is the place for you. They have something every night during the summer including a barbecue dinner, an ice cream social, and live entertainment twice a week. Some of the sites (including ours) were a little close to the neighbors and some (including ours) had back to back hookups. The cost was over $39 a night at the weekly rate (including tax, but excluding the extra charge for Wi-Fi).

One of the main reasons we stopped in Colorado Springs was to visit Garden of the Gods. Garden of the Gods is a unique red-rock formation at the base of Pikes Peak and is a city park operated by Colorado Springs. Although there are nominal fees for an excellent movie on the origin of the rocks and for a guided bus tour, public access to the park itself is free. There are several paved roads through the park with numerous pull-offs and parking lots as well as numerous paved walking trails. The photo below shows the view from the visitor center. The rock formations look massive...

...but in reality they are thin slabs.

Horizontal, sedimentary layers here at the edge of the Rockies were pushed upward during the formation of the mountains. As the surrounding layers were eroded away, harder layers of previously horizontal rock were left standing vertically and at crazy angles. The photo below shows smaller rocks leaning at a precarious angle.

In the photo of Garden of the Gods from the visitor center above, you can see Pikes Peak in the background. Pikes Peak was named for Lt. Zebulon Pike, who was sent to explore the Louisiana Purchase in 1806. Lt. Pike and his party attempted to scale the mountain in Nov., 1806, but were turned back by waist-deep snow.

Colorado has 54 mountains that exceed 14,000 ft. At a height above sea level of 14,110 ft., Pikes Peak is only number 31 of these 54 mountains. Why then is it so famous? It is so well known because of its location. It is on the front range of the Rockies and can be seen from a great distance. It reportedly could be seen by early settlers as they crossed Kansas.

There are three ways to get to the top of Pikes Peak - you can hike (not an option for us), you can drive (19 miles one-way starting in the nearby town of Cascade), or you can take the Manatou and Pikes Peak Cog Railway. We chose the railway.

In 1883, James Kerr proposed an aerial tram as a better way than the existing roads and trails for visitors to reach the summit to enjoy the spectacular views. When that proposal ran into problems, Kerr began planning a narrow-gauge railway. When Kerr lost all the money set aside for the railway in a bank failure, one of his investors organized his own company and began plans for a cog railway. The cog railway was designed by a Swiss engineer and is 8.9 miles long. In several places, it has grades of 25% (25 ft. of rise for every 100 ft. of forward travel). A standard railway usually has grades of no more than 2% and highways usually don't exceed 8 or 9%. In the view below, the camera is straight. It's the train that is climbing at such a steep angle.

Construction of the railway was started in April, 1889. Trains began trips to Half-Way House in August, 1890 and the first passenger train reached the summit on June 30, 1891. The early trains consisted of passenger coaches pushed by small, cog-driven steam locomotives built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia. The railway currently uses Swiss-built, self-propelled, streamlined passenger rail cars.

The rail trip to the top of Pikes Peak begins in Manitou Springs, which is named for its mineral springs. Today, the town is a quaint tourist town with Victorian buildings containing shops and cafes lining the main street. The train depot, shown in the photo below, is off the main street at the base of the mountain. You can see the cogs between the rails in the foreground.

At several places on the way up the mountain and especially at the summit, the views are spectacular.

In 1893, Katherine Lee Bates made the trip up Pikes Peak by wagon. She was so inspired by the view, she wrote a poem to capture what she saw. Her poem, America the Beautiful, was later set to music and was once considered as a candidate for the National Anthem.

The average tree line in Colorado is 11,500 ft., so the summit of Pikes Peak is above the tree line. Because of the high altitude, cold temperatures, short growing season, and high winds, large plants such as trees simply cannot grow. As we approached the summit, we saw large patches of dirty snow. When the train stopped, Paul couldn't resist making a snowball in July...

Although classes were not in session and the campus was quiet, it was so interesting to visit the U.S. Air Force Academy located just north of Colorado Springs. There was a very informative movie about Academy life presented in the visitors' center. The exhibit area featured displays regarding Academy history and cadet life as well as the four areas of cadet training: character development, academic, athletic, and military training. We were disappointed to learn that we arrived too late to attend church services in the uniquely-designed Air Force chapel. There is a Protestant and a Catholic service each Sunday even when cadets are not on campus. The Class of 2011 had arrived the weekend before and were off campus attending their five-week Basic Cadet Training. Our daughter's college roommate dated an Air Force cadet throughout their college years and married after graduation. Margery especially enjoyed learning about life at the Air Force Academy that prepares young men and women to "lead the United States Air Force in service to our nation."

Colorado Springs is also the home of Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family was founded by Dr. James Dobson and is committed to a Christian-based, common-sense approach to helping families thrive. From a simple beginning including a book on child discipline and a 25-minute weekly radio broadcast, Focus on the Family has grown over the years. Lora was just 4 years old when Margery began listening to Dr. Dobson's daily radio program and in many ways is a product of all that Margery learned about parenting, discipline, child development, and relationships. Today, the ministry addresses such things as life transitions, spiritual development for all ages, social issues which impact the family, and provides wholesome entertainment with life lessons for children. The Focus on the Family Welcome Center details the growth of the ministry and includes an art gallery of G. Harvey original paintings which are used for the Focus Christmas cards, and an extensive bookstore including a great collection of greeting cards. There was also a tribute to Dr. Dobson's father who was a Nazarene pastor. We were surprised to learn he was a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh before he went into ministry.

From Colorado Springs, we headed east for a one-night stop near Colby, KS at High Plains Camping. The campground has mostly pull-throughs, gravel roads and pads, and has side-by-side hookups. Fortunately, the campground wasn't full and they spaced the RVs out with at least one empty site between. High Plains Camping is convenient to the interstate, but highway noise isn't bad. It is fine for a one-night stop.

The next morning we left for Minooka Corps of Engineers Campground at Wilson Lake near Dorrance, KS. After about 6 weeks of fairly busy sightseeing, we were looking forward to staying here a few days with no real sightseeing and slowing the pace a little. Minooka Campground has huge sites with extra long pull-throughs and extra wide back-ins, many with a nice lake view. There are paved roads, gravel pads, grass, and a few trees. We stayed on "A" Loop, which was the farthest from the boat launch and swimming area. Therefore, it wasn't quite as overcrowded on the weekend.

This area of Kansas, known as Smokey Hills, is still in the shadows of the Rockies and gets little rainfall. For that reason, the trees are small and not very plentiful. The grass is prairie grass and the area is good for grazing cattle. Having few trees, early settlers ingeniously solved their fencing problem by quarrying local limestone to use as fence posts. They discovered a layer of limestone of a rather uniform thickness of 8 to 9 inches thick near the surface. This limestone is relatively easy to cut and shape when it is freshly quarried, but hardens somewhat and becomes more weather resistant after being exposed to the air for a time. The limestone was also used for many buildings. The limestone is commonly referred to as post rock and this area of Kansas is also known as Post Rock Country. The photo below shows typical stone fence posts.

Following a relaxing several-day stay at Minooka Campground, we moved farther east to Slough Creek Corps of Engineers Campground at Perry Lake near Perry, KS. Slough Creek has large back-in sites with plenty of grass and a few trees. Roads are paved and the sites are gravel.

The campground was relatively quiet when we arrived on Tuesday; but as can be expected on the weekend, it got very crowded. Posted rules sometimes set us up for disappointment since they are often not enforced. There were a lot of dogs running loose and lots of vehicles and boats parked on the grass between sites in spite of the fact that these things were prohibited. Quiet hours are also often a misnomer. Our neighbors carried on around their campfire with loud conversation, laughter, and a radio until 3:00 a.m. People just have no idea how sound travels. We have found many people camp to party rather than to enjoy the beauty and quiet of nature with bird songs as the only background noise. We are grateful that we can now enjoy these things during the week.

Slough Creek was also the site of our first experience with the emergence of millions of midges. There are numerous types of midges, but these were aquatic midges which don't bite. Unlike the small, black gnats that try to fly into your eyes and buzz in your ear, these midges just fly in swarms in huge numbers. They do get into your face, but probably more because there are so many of them rather than by intent. We had seen a few groups of them flying around under our awning on a couple of evenings; but we awoke one morning to thousands of them on the underside of the awning, on the side of the motor home, and swarming around the windows and doors. We couldn't get in or out of the motor home without at least a half a dozen midges finding their way in through the door. When you walked through the grass, clouds of them rose up. The next morning, the midges were largely gone. They either moved on or died off. What a relief!

Slough Creek was about an hour from Kansas City and the Circuit City where we were to pick up our new printer. Our HP All-In-One 2575 had broken the weekend before. We couldn't feel too badly because the paper jammed in it continuously...actually it was the plastic paper feed gear that broke on it. Since it broke in the middle of Kansas prairieland, it was great having satellite internet to research, evaluate, and price compare printers. We almost opted for another $100 model, but finally decided to spend a little more money for a model that got better reviews. We ended up with an HP All-In-One C5180. We liked it because the controls were on the front of the printer. Paul had built a shelf over the recliner to hold the old printer, but with the controls on top and in the back, it was very difficult to use. The other features we liked were individual color ink cartridges so you only need to replace what is empty and the fact it has two paper holders, 8 1/2 x 11 and 4 x 6 photo paper. Circuit City had it on sale so we ordered and paid for it online and arranged to pick it up at the closest store. Imagine our smiles when we found out at the time of pick up that it was on sale for another $5 off! We are very pleased with it to date. Pictures come out beautifully and we have yet to have a paper jam. :)

Our next stop was Ray Behrens Corps of Engineers Campground at Mark Twain Lake. Ray Behrens Campground has enormous sites, some with full hookups. The sites range from open grass with some trees to heavily wooded. They also have a good number of non-reservable sites, which makes it easier to make a last-minute stop.

Mark Twain Lake is about a half hour from Hannibal, MO, which is the home of Samuel Clemens who is best known by his pen name Mark Twain. While in Hannibal we took a ride on the Mark Twain Riverboat, which is 120' long, diesel-powered, 1964 reproduction of an 1800s stern wheeler. Although only an hour long, the cruise narrative is loaded with interesting information about Samuel Clemens, Hannibal, and the Mississippi River. As an added bonus, the stern wheeler Delta Queen was in port. As we were returning to our dock, we got to see the Delta Queen (shown in the photo below) depart for St. Louis, and we got to hear her caliope play as she headed downstream.

Hannibal is also the birthplace of Molly Brown of Titanic fame. Although the "unsinkable" Molly Brown had planned to return to Hannibal to visit her sister in the spring of 1912, the sudden illness of a grandchild caused her to to book passage at the last minute on the Titantic. The photo below shows the home as it exists today as a museum.

From Mark Twain Lake, we continued eastward to Lincoln Trail State Park in Marshall, IL. We had stayed at this campground on our way west last year, and we really liked it. Lincoln Trail State Park is located near the end of the 1,000-mile trail that Abraham Lincoln and his family traveled when they moved from Kentucky to Illinois in his early childhood. The park has two camping areas - Lakeside and Plainview. We stayed in Plainview, which has grassy sites with a fair amount of shade. Lakeside has HEAVILY wooded sites. All sites are large with gravel pads. There are a few fully-paved handicapped sites in both areas. Lincoln Trail does not accept reservations. All sites are on a first-come basis only. The campground was not full, even on the weekend, and it was nice and quiet.

The temperatures moderated, and we got out our bikes and were able to ride them every day. We also got to sit out and read every day and got to enjoy several campfires. Now, that's the kind of relaxation we've been looking for!

On Saturday we went to Terre Haute, IN, to a farmers market and got our first sweet corn in almost two years. Although it had been picked the night before and had been sitting in the sun, it was pretty good. I guess some might call us "corn snobs." If we could take the Coleman stove out to the field and bend the corn on stalk right into the water, we'd say, "Now that's GREAT corn!"

After several days, we moved east again to Caesar Creek State Park near Waynesville, OH. This has always been one of our favorite destinations. Being near Cincinnati and Dayton, Caesar Creek definitely fills up on weekends; but during the week, it is usually peaceful. The sites are very wide with plenty of grass and a few trees for shade. They raised their prices this year to $25 a night ($27 on holiday weekends), which is a little high for 30 amp electric and no water or sewer hookups. However, they accept Passport America for 50% off Sunday through Wednesday.

Our plans to stay here 8 days included taking Molly to a canine internist to try to get a definitive diagnosis and recommended treatment for her suspected health problem. We met with Dr. Lee Schrader of Suburban Veterinary Clinic. It was wonderful to meet with a specialist who could cut through all the rhetoric. After consultation, examination and an additional test, Dr. Schrader concluded that, although there may indeed be a problem, there are few if any symptoms and no treatment is recommended unless and until symptoms get to be a problem for either us or Molly. Molly, who is 13, is actually doing quite well for her age. During the visit, the vet did uncover a latent bladder infection. Molly had problems with several previous infections and it had apparently gone "underground." It was still there, but it was not active. The infection will require extended treatment with antibiotics and a follow-up test in about a month. We are so very pleased with Dr. Schrader...her kindness, thoroughness, and practicality. Since we'll be here again over Labor Day weekend with Lora and J. Michael, we've scheduled Molly's follow-up test for early September. We must say that almost every vet we saw across the country (11 over the past year) had identified a piece of the puzzle, but we can't say enough about seeking out a specialist when there's something going on internally. We even get to take Molly off the $45/bag dog food! She is happy to return to her standard Purina Senior. No more coaxing by covering the other dog food with broth!

Waynesville, OH is about 20 minutes away from Caesar Creek. Waynesville bills itself as the antiques capital of the midwest and antique shops line the main street. Waynesville is also the home of Der Dutchman, which is one of our favorite restaurants. They have four restaurants in Ohio and one in Indiana. Their breakfast buffet can't be beat and their Manhattans (hot roast beef, pork or turkey sandwich) with REAL mashed potatoes are exceptional, too.

Right at the exit 45 on I-71 is Caesar Creek Flea Market. There is a nice mix of new and used merchandise here and, even though we don't really need to do much shopping now that we are full-time RVers, we still enjoy looking. The Cincinnati/Dayton area also has several other flea markets, but since they are a little farther away, we skipped them for this trip.

Not only does it have American groceries, but products from the countries "across the pond" as well as Asian countries and India. From this picture, you can also see just some of the variety of produce that is shipped in from around the world. There are oranges from Australia, mangos from Haiti, several types of coconuts, and numerous varieties of bananas and melons from various locations.

At one point we said, "If they don't have it, it must not be made." However, they did NOT have Paul's favorite candy, ju-ju fish. This all-inclusive grocery store had more kinds of butter that you can imagine....from all over the world. It's the same for many other items. From this picture you can see the honey display.

In addition to all of the interesting displays and foods, the Jungle Jim bathrooms are one of five finalists in the America's best bathroom contest. We have to admit, we did hesitate before opening the door. :) The Porta-Potties are just a front and the restrooms inside are actually quite nice.

From Caesar Creek, it's on to Pittsburgh. With less sightseeing, the posts will probably be a little less frequent for the next several weeks. We are looking forward to spending time with family and working on some projects.